| As Video Conferencing Becomes the Norm, Some Question Whether It's Hurting Business | |
| | “This new paradigm has become the new normal, and what you’re seeing is the Venn diagram of public personas and private personas,” said Robert Passikoff, a psychologist and founder of consultancy Brand Keys. “It sets up a very interesting opportunity to judge people in ways that you probably never thought about.” Yet therein lays a dynamic that should give every office worker pause. As millions of us are treated to fleeting-yet-telling glimpses into the personal realms of business partners and clients, is any of it affecting business itself? Is seeing a colleague with bedhead and a tank top undermining a workplace relationship? If the CEO appears onscreen sitting in front of a velvet Elvis painting on the wall, is his or her authority somehow undermined? | | | |
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| | Location Data Company Factual Merges With Foursquare | |
| | Foursquare has merged with information-sharing startup Factual to position itself as a leader in the location discovery tech market. The fusion of the tech companies, which were both created in 2008 and launched in 2009, is slated to generate more than $150 million in revenue and will amplify Foursquare’s presence in 20 global markets across brands, advertisers, publishers and agencies. | |
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| Atlantic Media's Consultancy Aims to Help Brands Navigate COVID-19 | |
| | The Atlantic’s in-house agency, Atlantic 57, is creating a new platform specifically for brands and marketers navigating COVID-19 as it moves to position itself as a “brand evolution firm.” The Atlantic’s newsroom has been aggressively covering the pandemic, an effort that put substantial coverage in front of its paywall yet still saw a surge in subscribers. Now, the consultancy firm, Atlantic 57, is releasing a new platform, Altered, to offer brands and marketers advice on navigating the same unsteady economy rocked by the coronavirus. | | | |
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| After Postponing Due to COVID-19, Tribeca Film Festival Goes Digital | |
| | After last month’s decision to postpone the 19th annual Tribeca Film Festival, originally scheduled for April 15-26, organizers are now making select programming from the event available online. The virtual festival will include the brand storytelling Tribeca X Awards, which launched Friday, as well as the Industry Extranet Resource Hub, Jury and Art Awards and the N.O.W. Creators Market. Award winners will be announced over the course of the festival’s original timeframe. Select content from other award categories will also be released online throughout the week. | | | |
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| Broadcast Scheduling Is More Important Than Ever During a Pandemic | |
| | As the COVID-19 crisis enters its second month in the U.S., broadcast networks have been scrambling to fill the programming slots left open by the cancellation of live sports and create lineups that will be attractive to consumers stuck at home who are looking for entertainment options. Meanwhile, they’re trying to plan for what will happen if the Hollywood production shutdown continues for months, which will deplete their stock of original programming and could send viewers to other outlets in search of content. At the center of this perfect storm is the broadcast schedulers, who are juggling all these tasks as their try to steer their respective networks through the pandemic. They have always held one of the industry’s most important jobs, but with bigger stakes than ever thanks to the novel coronavirus, the fate of the entire network is in their hands. “This job has never been more important—and more stressful,” as one put it. | | | |
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| Global Citizen Teams With Pepsi for Virtual Concert to Help Those Impacted by COVID-19 | |
| | As brands continue pivoting to virtual experiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Global Citizen and Pepsi have partnered to produce a one-night, international livestreamed event to highlight healthcare workers and amplify the efforts of organizations providing aid those impacted by the crisis. Global Citizen, an international advocacy platform dedicated to ending extreme poverty by 2030, will host One World: Together at Home, a Live Aid-style broadcast of musical performances recorded in musicians’ homes, interspersed with footage of healthcare workers’ experiences fighting the disease and PSAs from world leaders, athletes and activists. | | | |
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| NBCUniversal Will Permanently Reduce Linear Ads Amid COVID-19 Crisis | |
| | NBCU is reducing the number of ads across several categories in its portfolio—including news and late-night—in what ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino says is a permanent effort to move some of the ad formats and innovations (announced at the Peacock investors day in January) over to linear TV. Beginning immediately, NBCUniversal will be coming with different approaches to roll back ads in an effort to “do what’s right for our audience and marketers,” Yaccarino, chairman of advertising and partnerships, NBCU, wrote in a new blog post. | | | |
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| Amazon Will Stream Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag Play for Charity | |
| | Devoted fans of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s riotous tragicomedy Fleabag who devoured the two-season Emmy-winning Amazon Prime series much too quickly now have another piece of Fleabag content to binge—and it’s for a good cause. Waller-Bridge’s one-woman Fleabag play, on which the show is based, will be available to stream on Amazon Prime for two weeks beginning Friday, April 10 in the U.S for about $5. Viewers in the U.K. and Ireland can already access the 48-hour download of the play via Soho Theatre’s On Demand streaming site for 4 euros. | | | |
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